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6 easy parenting hacks to increase a child's vegetable intake
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What if there was an easier way to get your children to eat their vegetables? - photo by Tana Bolinger
Tana Bolinger
FamilyShare
Published: Jul 4, 2016, 1:01 PM
Should parents always tell their kids the truth?

When answering the question, Whats for dinner? it is best not to say, Grilled fish, cauliflower and steamed Brussels sprout.

I dont know a child who would jump up and down, run around the table and fall on his knees saying, Thanks, Mom! Thats my favorite!

Does that mean we should stop serving our kids healthy food? It takes a whole lot of energy to get them to swallow a single bite ... Why waste the time?

The United States Department of Agriculture has shared, Vegetables provide nutrients vital for health and maintenance of your body. Eating these nutrients while young is crucial for lifelong mental and physical health.

To prevent your constant table battle, here are six tasty meals that secretly give your children entire servings of vegetables.

1. Baked Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

This unbelievable gooey, cheesy treat provides a full serving of vegetables and will leave your kids wanting more. Just cook a full stock of cauliflower in with the pasta.

2. Squash Pizza

Replacing the breaded crust with squash brings the pizza to life with additional flavors while keeping the same thin texture everyone loves. The squash can also be replaced with cauliflower or zucchini if desired.

3. Kale/Spinach Fruit Smoothie

Add a cup of kale or spinach and watch your child enjoy an extremely healthy and beautifully delicious morning beverage. Your young one will never notice the difference!

4. Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

This low-calorie, low-carb veggie is easily mistaken as real potatoes! Simply boiling cauliflower instead of starchy potatoes is all it takes to make this spectacular dish. See what all the buzz is about and try the recipe for dinner tonight.

5. Zucchini Lasagna

The trick to good lasagna is great sauce. What better way to enhance the sauce then by adding real vegetables to it? This enhances the flavor and tastes delicious. You can even try replacing the noodles with zucchini!

6. Veggie Sloppy Joes

Using vegetable stock and chopped unions with vegetarian crumbles brings out a great unnoticeable flavor change but very noticeable health benefits.

Looking down at a plate of vegetables scares most kids away. So hiding vegetables in their favorite meals is a great solution. Ensuring children get the right nutrients is an important part of a parent's role; and, lucky for you, it just became easier.
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
Herb Scribner
Deseret News
Published: Aug 13, 2018, 1:39 PM
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.